This is a tough book for me to rate. I'm not a facilitator or mediator, though I would like to increase my skills in those areas. Much of the advice seems solid, but I don't have the experience to really say. Its tough for me to dig through all the ancestor talk and building alter descriptions. I skimmed a bunch. The best parts of the book are the essays not written by brown. I read this just after my sister died and Malkia Devich-Cyril's essay on grief will be something I come back to in particular. Worth reading for that alone.